Bombay Bicycle Club @ The Phoenix – 03/01/12

Written by Kylee Winn-Thurrott & Photos by Ashley Depaz

The Phoenix filled with high school kids and plaid wearing hipsters on Thursday, all waiting for the first North American headlining tour for English band, Bombay Bicycle Club. This was the last Canadian stop on the tour, previously hitting Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, and Winnipeg. A spotlight landed on stage as a blonde, white sweater wearing Lucy Rose took stage with her acoustic guitar. The crowd stood memorized as Lucy’s voice echoed through the Phoenix. You may recognize the name from her contribute vocals on Bombay Bicycle Club’s albums “Flaws” and “A Different Kind of Fix”. Lucy explained how it was her first time in Toronto and that she’s going to have to come back. By the end of the set, you could tell the young crowd was getting antsy with just the mellow sounds of the acoustic guitar and stripped down vocals.

As Bombay Bicycle Club opened with “How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep”, it was clear who’d everyone was there for. Jack Steadman yelled out “How’s it going Toronto?” which was followed by cheers from the crowd. Every song was greeted by such a warm welcome from the audience, singing along to every word and bobbing up and down. Out of all the acts that night, Bombay Bicycle Club was the liveliest on stage; you could see they were feeding off the crowd, it felt like a group of friends getting together playing their favourite songs. Lucy joined the stage for the songs she appears on, seeing in the back head banging along. Lead singer, Jack would shoot up through his long hair to smile at the crowd as he sang. He talked about the last place they played in Toronto was Lee’s Palace and how great they thought the venues in Toronto were. Overall Bombay Bicycle Club were really crisp sounding, you couldn’t help but not feel pleased for them. They’re bound to come back.